Since CleanEquity® Monaco launched its first edition in 2007, over 270 technologies from 36 countries have presented at the emerging cleantech conference, held annually in the Principality under the High Patronage of HSH Prince Albert II.

Prince Albert lends much more than just his name to CleanEquity® Monaco. He co-founded the invitation-only conference, with Mungo Park, Chairman of Innovator Capital.

The unrivalled success of CleanEquity® Monaco is illustrated not only by the scope and volume of its participants: over the years – over 1,800 people from corporate, professional and strategic family investors, entrepreneurs, academics, policy makers, diplomats and end users, but also by the consequences: $1.7 billion (€1.41 billion) raised, so soon after the event, by attending companies, such as Primus Power, a flow battery for large scale energy storage ($32 million/€26.6 million) and Benson Hill Biosystems plant biology ($25 million/€20.7 million).

Also associated with CleanEquity® Monaco, is the Nobel Sustainability Trust®, which founded the Nobel Sustainability Fund. The fund was seeded by Monaco’s Constitutional Reserve Fund and was announced on 22nd September, 2016.

“Sustainable technology research and development will raise awareness of the crucial role innovation plays in the mitigation of environmental impacts,” Mr Park stated at the time of the announcement.

Over the course of 2017, Monaco Life has been publishing the “Becoming Clean” series, which features 10 people, from investors to inventors, who have helped CleanEquity® Monaco become the leading cleantech conference worldwide.

To acknowledge the first breakfast meeting between the co-founders in 2006, I was honoured to sit down with Prince Albert and Mungo Park to discuss CleanEquity® Monaco.

In the beginningPrince Albert and Mungo Park met over 30 years ago in Monaco. Casual exchanges on topics as varied as animals in danger of extinction, a subject of keen interest to His Serene Highness, and the link between disease and the environment, developed into deeper discussions about reducing illnesses by reducing toxic emissions.

A year after Prince Albert’s ascension to the throne in 2005, he launched the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, which coincided with his expedition to the North Pole. Around this time, Prince Albert invited Mr Park to breakfast to discuss various environmental initiatives. The idea of a conference emerged, a way of brining new technologies that address environmental issues to Monaco. CleanEquity® Monaco hosted its first edition in 2007.

“To have a project like this, the coming together of different minds and some quite remarkable people, is paramount,” Prince Albert told me. “We tried to address viable economic solutions that were only starting to emerge then, human health issues – waste management, recycling air quality, the fight against diseases – that are becoming increasingly difficult and problematic.”

ML: Your Highness, you have always been outspoken about the environment and sustaining the planet for our children. Can the origins of this passion be pinpointed to a specific time in your life?HSH: I was made aware of these issues a long time ago. I saw through different journeys that it was not only an important issue but it was getting worse and that some of us had to at least try to help find solutions. We are not going to do this alone. When you put different minds, and people from different background too, together you always end up with interesting things. Look at artists; if you assemble musicians from different genres, they always enjoy playing together because it’s a different sound and a different way of expressing their art. Why can’t this be possible in other domains and other walks of life?

ML: When you engage in dialogue with other heads of states about finding viable solutions to environmental issues, do you find there is enough follow though in their commitment?HSH: Most of the smaller European nations agree in principle that they should be involved in finding solutions. In some countries leaders are trying to do things in their own way but they have to be careful because they are not in office for a huge amount of time and they are being pressured by other groups to prioritise.

One head of state that did surprise me in his intent to improve things in his own country was the president of China, Xi Jinping. When I was in China for the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, I was able to ask him about his policies and he was very open in his conversation, saying that the environment was a priority for his government because they had realised that air pollution and water pollution were becoming huge health issues and so they are putting in place many more sustainable practices.

Nations such as China have such huge energy needs that they still rely very heavily on an unsustainable energy source – coal, the transition to renewables will take time, but at least they are willing to do something about it. Importantly, they want to keep in line with the Paris agreement. There’s a vacant spot in world leadership on this, the Chinese, thankfully, are all too happy to take that leadership.

ML: In terms of energy security, which you discussed in your opening speech at the Energy Security Forum in June, are other countries stepping up to the plate?HSH: Not at a fast enough pace. Sometimes our priorities get lost in what others feel are more pressing issues. While there is more awareness now, it still needs to be improved.

ML: What were the specific objectives when CleanEquity®Monaco was launched ten years ago?MP: His Serene Highness hit the nail on the head when he said what is needed is a strategy to reach economically viable solutions. There are solutions to everything, in my opinion, that are viable economically. Investors should not have to be cajoled or pressured into supporting something simply because it is going to do good for humans or animals or the land. It has been demonstrated that these objectives can be reached economically and commercially and many people still have not received or understood that message.

Engineers and inventors need to devote as much of their time as possible to finding innovative and viable solutions rather than looking for funds. If they spend one out of every three years on the road raising money for their inventions, it’s not practical. CleanEquity® Monaco was designed to address this, to bring people together, over two days, who could enable the scientists, engineers and inventors to accelerate what they were doing.

ML: Seth Grae, CleanEquity® Monaco 2016 Award Winner commented that CEM was “the best experience I’ve had at a conference. The investors are high-end and are interested in both profits and environmental sustainability. The presenting companies have been well-screened.” What is the screening process?MP: Innovator Capital usually looks at over 600 innovations a year, which we must reduce to a manageable 25 to 35 as they are screened: can the technology be viable economically? Can board and management run the company? Can they develop the technology? Does it work? Is it protected? Is it world relevant? These are the key criteria which a company needs to have for itself to be sustainable, only then will investors be more likely to pursue the opportunity.

For example, a solar technology company that only works in Monaco is not viable but if it works anywhere in the Northern or Southern hemisphere, even on the poles in their summers, then it is viable. Selection is by merit and while most of the technologies come from the US and the UK, CleanEquity has had representatives from 36 different countries. A variety of investors and potential partners come to Monaco seeking to provide a company with anything it could possibly need within the following 24 months. This means that the company can get on with its work, knowing that management don’t have to go out and look for investment again for two years. So that was the strategy, to help accelerate towards commercialisation.

ML: Your Highness, do you have a say in the theme or who should win one of the three awards – Excellence in the Field of Technology Research, Excellence in the Field of Technology Development or Excellence in the Field of Technology Commercialisation?HSH: The theme is pretty widespread, although solar energy was rather over represented to start with.

My main role is to present the awards. I do contribute to the discussions about the merits of the different candidates and I ask questions but the final approval comes from the judges.

ML: What is the significance of Monaco seeding the Nobel Sustainability Fund?HSH: This says, loud and clear, that we encourage and support these kinds of initiatives, that we are one of the countries which is viewed as a serious player at helping fund sustainable energy projects and technology development. It shows that Monaco’s commitment is strong and consistent.

ML: Your Highness, can you comment on the MonacoTech Incubator and Accelerator startups program, which launched in Monaco earlier this spring?HSH: MonacoTech encourages entrepreneurship and startups in fields such as fintech, healthtech or smart cities in Monaco and if these businesses don’t require a lot of space, we can help and they are welcome to stay in Monaco.

ML: Any future development plans for CleanEquity® Monaco?MP: We’re talking about CleanEquity 2018 session on Africa. Africa is a huge resource with a rapidly growing population. It is severely disadvantaged in many ways. There are probably more starving people in Africa than any other continent. Financial aid is not the only solution, we should employ a sustainable model, using some of the allocated financial aid, by sending technologies and engineers to enable countries that need assistance to improve the harvest, to improve the irrigation, to clean the water, to provide affordable energy and provide refrigeration for medication in hospitals. Sixty per cent of the companies coming to CleanEquity are from the UK and the USA and the way I look at it, we have technologies that could help.

CleanEquity® Monaco takes place March 8th-9th, 2018. Article first published September 24, 2017.

[caption id="attachment_13511" align="alignnone" width="709"] Seth Grae, President and CEO, Lightbridge Corporation[/caption]
ML: You are from New York. How did you end up in Virginia as President and Chief Executive Officer of Lightbridge Corporation?
SG: A college class in astrophysics helped spark my interest in all things nuclear. In law school I represented Soviet nuclear scientists pro bono, helping them receive exit visas, and my experiences with them added to my interest in nuclear as a global energy source. Originally I worked in nuclear as a lawyer and later obtained an MBA and focused on management. I’ve worked only in nuclear power for over 20 years.
ML: Tell us about Lightbridge.
SG: In 2008 we wrote the strategic plan for nuclear power for the Government of the United Arab Emirates, which is doing a fantastic job safely deploying four plants on schedule. We’ve advised several governments since, and we still provide advisory services in Abu Dhabi. Using the revenues from the consulting work, supplemented by equity investments, we launched a project to develop new fuel for both existing and new reactors to dramatically improve their safety and economics. In 2010 we announced the concept of a metallic fuel for power uprates to reactors and improved safety margins. With Fukushima and the collapse in natural gas prices, nuclear utilities are focused on safety and economics. We chose to patent the technology that we invented, which allows Lightbridge to be transparent. The most prestigious nuclear technology journal published a peer-reviewed article about our nuclear fuel technology; some nuclear technology companies have avoided independent peer review. Siemens has issued a report on the value proposition of Lightbridge fuel. Four large American nuclear utilities have submitted to the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission their positive assessment of the technology and asked the NRC to prepare to receive the first license application in 2017. The Norwegian nuclear regulatory authority has praised the safety of Lightbridge’s technology in its license to begin demonstrating the nuclear fuel in the Halden Reactor this year.
ML: What is the relationship between “developing and commercialising next generation nuclear fuel technology” and a “meaningful impact on preventing climate change”?
SG: Nuclear reactors emit no climate change gasses. Lightbridge fuels allow reactors to generate even more carbon-free electricity through a power increase. Increasing nuclear power from existing plants as well as new ones with Lightbridge fuel will help the world meet its climate and energy goals.
ML: What is something that would surprise people to learn about nuclear fuel technology?
SG: Nuclear fuel has hardly been changed at all since the beginning of the industry. It’s at its limit and can’t safely be used to increase power for reactors to compete against natural gas. There must be a new type of fuel if nuclear plants are going to become safer and more economical. Lightbridge has invented and is developing that new fuel.
ML: How has your sector changed over the past decade and where do you see it going over the next 20 years?
SG: It’s become harder to make the economic case for nuclear power versus natural gas. While there is a net increase in nuclear power globally, many plants have closed and some of the largest companies are in trouble. In the next 20 years I think the industry will continue to focus on the existing types of plants, as it will take much longer than 20 years for whole new types of reactors to be designed, licensed, and deployed at any significant scale. Lightbridge’s fuel is designed for the existing types of reactors and some of the concepts for new ones.
ML: In December 2016, you were appointed to the Civil Nuclear Trade Advisory Committee (CINTAC). Tell us about the significance of CINTAC and your involvement?
SG: CINTAC advises the US Secretary of Commerce, Wilbur Ross, primarily on how we believe US government actions can help increase exports from US nuclear power companies. I represent small companies, including Lightbridge.
[caption id="attachment_10680" align="alignnone" width="670"] HSH Prince Albert presenting Seth Grae of Lightbridge Corporation with the Research Award in the presence of Mungo Park. Photo: CleanEquity® Monaco[/caption]
ML: Last year was your first time attending CleanEquity® Monaco (CEM). How did you meet Mungo Park and become involved with CEM?
SG: We met through an investor relations professional in New York who had dealt with Mungo. I first met with Mungo in London and described Lightbridge and I was very happy to be invited to participate in CleanEquity® Monaco.
ML: How was presenting at CEM different from your experiences at other types of events?
SG: CEM was the best experience I’ve had at a conference. The investors are high-end and are interested in both profits and environmental sustainability. The presenting companies have been well-screened. The conference is well-run, with the right balance between formal presentations and informal interactions.
ML: Why do we need CleanEquity® Monaco?
SG: So small companies with great technology that can be profitable and high-end investors can meet each other and start working together.
ML: Lightbridge Corporation was presented with CEM’s 2016 award for Excellence in the Field of Environmental Technology Research. What impact has this made over the last year in terms of exposure for Lightbridge?
SG: We’ve had a remarkable year since receiving the CleanEquity® Monaco award, moving from technology research to major accomplishments in developing the technology towards commercialisation. We’re now forming a joint venture with the world’s largest manufacturer of nuclear fuel and we’re working with large electric utilities that are taking steps to use the fuel in their reactors. I think the exposure that came with the award helped create a buzz in the nuclear power industry and in governments about Lightbridge’s technology that helped lead to these remarkable developments.